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Siege of Phoenix
|partof = the NCR Arizona Offensive |image = |caption = An NCR Heavy Trooper in Phoenix during the siege |date = October 22nd - November 18th, 2282 |place = Phoenix, former Arizona |result = NCR Victory |combatant1 = New California Republic |combatant2 = Caesar's Legion |commander1 = President Aaron Kimball General Lee Oliver General Ignacio Ramirez |commander2 = Marius of Phoenix |strength1 = NCR Defense Force *8,000 troops *400 armored vehicles |strength2 = Legion Military *5,400 troops *300 armored vehicles |casualties1 = Moderate-Heavy *902 KIA *63 vehicles destroyed |casualties2 = Heavy-Severe *2,945 KIA *over 4,000 POW *223 vehicles destroyed }} The Siege of Phoenix was the largest battle of the NCR Arizona Offensive, with over 8,000 NCR troops involved in the battle attacking from multiple directions. The northern force under General Lee Oliver, consisting of 4,000 troops and 400 armored vehicles was deployed from the north, attacking along Interstate 17 starting on November 22nd. Starting on November 29th, a second NCR force under General Ignacio Ramirez attacked across the lightly defended Sonoran Desert "No Mans Land" between Phoenix and the NCR borders from the west and southwest, with the intent of catching the Legion, who had by this point allocated most of their resources to the fighting in the north of the city by surprise. As the downtown core of Phoenix was destroyed in a nuclear attack in the Great War, the fighting was concentrated in the suburbs surrounding the ruined downtown, including Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, and Mesa. Initial Assault After the NCR victory at the Battle of Black Canyon, Legion defenses around Pheonix, particularly the north side were bombed for several days, the NCR taking advantage of their near total air supremacy. The Legion could only launch a few aircraft from Luke Air Force base- which had remained relatively intact, but had only a single working simulator for pilot training. This, coupled with a lack of emphasis on training pilots, restoring aircraft, and the general Legion dismissal of pre-war tech meant that they had few working aircraft and even fewer pilots. The few aircraft that did make it up were all quickly shot down. ' At 0800 hours on October 22nd, NCR forces, spearheaded by the First Armored Division and First Mechanized Infantry advanced down Interstate 17, their first objectives being the communities of New River and Anthem, as well as the low mountains around Lake Pleasant. The first target they reached was New River. NCR forces quickly took the widely spaced houses in the town, before attacking Daisy Mountain and the other summits between New River and Anthem. The guns of NCR armor and supporting helicopters and Vertibirds supported NCR infantry as they advanced up the mountains, though they still suffered 13 casualties, including 4 KIA. By 900 hours, the mountains nearest New River were taken, and by 1030 hours, NCR infantry had cleared the summit of Daisy Mountain to the south. With high ground cleared, NCR armor advanced down I-17 towards Anthem. Artillery and aerial bombardment had destroyed much of the Legion artillery and what armor they had in the area, however, it also turned the dense, pre-war residential developments into a maze of ruined structures that limited the maneuverability of armor. By 1100 hours, the NCR took the area of Anthem surrounding the exit on I-17, however, as they advanced eastward into the majority of Anthem and southward towards the suburb of Desert Hills and the surrounding low mountains. they came under repeated Legion ambushes in ruined structure, forcing them to fight from house to house with flamethrowers, shotguns, and grenades. The Battle of Anthem would last until 1700 hours, and cost the lives over 56 NCR troops and over 400 Legionaries before Anthem and Desert Hills were finally taken. While their comrades fought at New River and Anthem, other NCR forces attacked Lake Pleasant, one of the reservoirs from Phoenix attacking from both the east from I-17 and the north, down from Crown King. By 1200 hours, the NCR had taken the lightly defended lake- most Legion forces were concentrated countering the NCR push down I-17. The capture of the Lake allowed the NCR to cut off any pre-war plumbing that remained intact and prevented Legion water caravans from refilling at the lake. While this had some impact, the Legion still held other reservoirs. By the end of October 22nd, the NCR held the New River, Anthem, and Desert Hills, as well as Lake Pleasant. On October 23rd, NCR armored and mechanized forces swept southeast, preventing the escape of a few hundred Legionaries in Cave Creek, before NCR and Allied infantry forces assaulted the suburb and surrounding low mountains. The few besieged Legionaries held out in the until 1400 hours. Meanwhile, Legion forces on October 23rd and 24th deployed additional troops to a series of defenses along the Central Arizona Canal in northern Scottsdale, Deer Valley, and Peoria, from the McDowell Mountains in the west to the Agua Fria River in the east. The heaviest Legion defenses were concentrated near the Scottsdale Airport, Interstate 17, and the Lake Pleasant Parkway. Battle of the Canal and Northwestern Suburbs On October 25th, NCR forces launched an attack on the Legion defenses at Dixie Mountain near the bridge of I-17 over the Central Arizona Canal, after the area was bombarded by aircraft and artillery. NCR Infantry took 21 casualties, including 14 KIA from Legion snipers on the mountain before they took the summit at 1100 hours. After taking the Summit NCR tanks were deployed to support the attack on the Canal itself. Legion troops had blown the major bridges over the canal, preventing NCR heavy forces from crossing. Legion forces allowed NCR forces to reach within 200 meters of the canal, giving the NCR forces the impression the area was abandoned, before. The Legion defenses in the ruins of the dense suburban development south of the canal give them ample positions to ambush the incoming NCR forces. When the NCR forces reached about 200 meters from the canal, hidden Legion forces, including snipers, machine guns, missile launchers, and even a few tanks and artillery hidden partially destroyed buildings. In the ambush, the Legion forces destroyed 21 NCR vehicles, including eight tanks and 12 APCs, and killed over 100 NCR personnel, the vehicles proving easy targets in the open areas on the north side of the canal. The NCR tanks and APCs, as well as infantry armed with hand-held rocket and grenade launchers returned fire. Within a few minutes of firing, all of the Legion heavy weapons positions overlooking the canal had been destroyed, however, while NCR infantry managed to cross the canal, with the bridges destroyed, the armor could not accompany them. Legion defenses deeper into the suburbs, protected from direct fire of NCR armor quickly pushed the, back across the canal. Artillery, Vertibird, and helicopter support proved insufficient to dislodge the Legion forces deeper in the suburbs, and at 1212 hours, NCR armored forces were ordered to retreat three kilometers to NCR forward positions in southern Desert Hills and Anthem. From 1230 to 1500 hours, the NCR air force, including multiple F80s and propeller-driven aircraft, as well as the B-29 Superfortress operated by the Nellis Volunteer Squadron, better known as the "Boomers", and even one of the NCR's three operational B-52 Stratofortress bombers rained high explosive and incendiary bombs on the NCR bridgehead, flattening pre-war buildings within a kilometer of the bridgehead. The Deem Hills, a prominent height near the canal, was also attacked by air and artillery. At 1530 hours, NCR forces advanced again, encountering no resistance as engineers constructed two temporary bridges over the canal. The engagement, known as the "Battle of the Canal" was one of the bloodiest in the NCR Arizona Offensive, with a total of 138 NCR personnel dead. The Legion lost 200-400 troops in the firefight and bombardment. On the more lightly defended west flank, NCR forces managed to push further south, making greater gains and pushing the Legion out of the suburbs of Tierra del Rio and Vistancia. After repulsing night attacks by the Legion, the NCR forces took the old Deer Valley Airport and the surrounding suburbs, while also making slow, but steady gains in the west. On the eastern flank, NCR forces took several of the suburban areas west of Cave Creek, which were less dense, and more lightly defended. By October 28th, all pockets of resistance north of the Agua Fria Freeway had been cleared, with the exception of Legion defenses on the summit of Thunderbird Mountain immediately to the north of the Freeway. The Legion had concentrated their second line of the defenses along the freeway. To the west, NCR and Legion forces were engaged in heavy fighting around the Sun City suburb in the northwest part of Phoenix. The Southern Flank Attack On October 29th, 2282, NCR forces which had been advancing across the Sonoran Desert from Yuma on I-8 and Blythe on I-10, easily sweeping aside Legion outposts arrived at the area southwest of Phoenix. The operation, commanded by General Ignacio Ramirez, a veteran commander of the NCR-Brotherhood War known for his effective use of NCR mechanized and armored assets, was intended to hit the Legion on their weakly defended southern and western flank, while the bulk of their forces were tied down in heavy fighting against Lee Oliver's northern assault. Ramirez's forces were split into to sub-units, one attacking along I-10 and one along I-8. At about 1130 hours on October 29th, the more northerly forces moving up I-10 assaulted the Legion positions in the towns of Buckeye and Palo Verde along the Salt River, quickly overwhelming the defenders and liberating slaves employed in the farms along the river. The White Tank Mountains to the north of I-10 held out for a few more hours, but by 1400 hours, NCR infantry had cleared out the Legion troops defending the positions in the mountains. From that point on, the forces attacking along I-10 assaulted the suburb of Avondale, Litchfield Park, Phoenix-Goodyear Airport, and Luke Air Force base. By nightfall, spearheaded by armor. By nightfall, the Legion had been pushed out of Avondale and Litchfield Park, and both of the two pre-war airfields were secure. This created a salient in the Legion lines consisting of the suburbs of El Mirage and Surprise. The NCR force attacking along I-8 was smaller, only about 1500 men, but was entirely mechanized, and was personally lead by General Ramirez. On October 29th, this force attacked surrounded and captured several small Legion outposts, using their superior mobility to surround and clear the outposts, which were isolated and undermanned thanks to the redeployment of Legion troops to Phoenix. By the end of October 29th, they had cleared Maricopa, and by the end of the 30th, the city of Casa Grande was taken. Ramirez's use of the superior firepower and mobility of the NCR mechanized and armored forces to take Casa Grande was a major blow to the Legion, as it cut off southeast-running stretch of I-10, leading to Two Sun, forcing the Legion to transport reinforcements along a long route through the mountains to reach Phoenix. On October 31st, NCR forces attacked the salient in El Mirage and Surprise from both the north and south, rapidly cutting through the weakened Legion defenses which had been divided by the two flanking attacks. After hours of heavy fighting, El Mirage and Sun City were taken, pushing the Legion back south and east of their second line of defense, located along the Agua Fria Parkway to the north and an north-south running section of the Central Arizona Canal to the east. Closing the Salient With the capture of El Mirage and Sun City, the Legion forces in West Phoenix occupied a salient or "bulge" in the Legion lines, with General Ramirez's force to the south and southwest and Oliver's to the north and northwest. From October 31st to November 3rd, NCR, Brotherhood, and other allied aircraft attacked strong point on the Legion lines with explosives and incendiary bombs. Three Mark 84 "mini-nuke" bombs, ten ton yield weapons capable of wiping out several city blocks and leaving minimal radiation, allowing for tactical use, were dropped on strong points in the Legion lines, two on the southwest side of the city and one on north. The area was also pounded by artillery and priority targets in the northern part defense were "sniped" by the two XM58 Self-Propelled Laser Weapons the NCR had taken from the Nevada Test Site near the beginning of the campaign. The bombardment and associated fires destroyed much of the most heavily defended areas of the Legion positions. On October the 4th, NCR forces pushed into the Legion held territory from the southwest, northwest, and northeast. While the NCR advance was slowed by debris from the bombing and fires, as well as stubborn Legion strongpoints, by the end of the 4th, the southern force had advanced through the suburb of Tolleson into the industrial district of the city, while the northern force pushed deep into Peoria and Glendale. After the bombardment and breakthrough, may of the surviving Legion forces were scattered and separated from their command structures, and were easily pushed aside. Furthermore, the chaos allowed numerous slaves forced to do dangerous salvage and steel processing work in the industrial district to escape and flee to NCR lines, though a significant number were, in fact, killed in the bombardment. As the NCR forces advance, Marius of Phoenix once again ordered his troops to contract their lines, retreating to a series of two defensive lines, the first along the Papago and Maricopa Freeways near the State Capitol, and a second in "The Ruins", the area east of State Capitol, which had been directly impacted by the nuclear attack of 2077. At this time, Marius abandoned the old State Capitol Building, the main base of Legion operations and the objective of the NCR southern assault retreated with a small contingent of men through the mountains, evading NCR force holding Casa Grande and guarding the Interstate 10, the former main transportation artery. Taking the City Center NCR forces reached the remains of the Maricopa Freeway, as well as a stretch of the Papago Freeway, which ringed to the capital area on November the 5th, 2282, attacking from multiple directions, from the north, south, and west. In spite of the heavy air and artillery bombardment on previous days, the Legion fiercely held on to the area around the pre-war State Capital. With most units involved being bogged down for most of the day in building-to-building combat. Armored forces had to be particularly cautious lest their vehicles be attacked from Legion troops with missile launchers from above, and several NCR armored vehicles were destroyed in the urban combat, along with over 100 NCR personnel casualties. Armor was reduced to playing the role of demolishing walls and barricades with their heavy guns, while NCR and allied infantry fought house-to-house with their Legion counterparts, with heavy use of grenades, shotguns, and flamethrowers. Eventually, however, the superior training and equipment of the allied forces, including Brotherhood of Steel power armor units and NCR First Recon and Rangers, managed to slowly push the Legion back. By the end of the 5th of November, NCR and allied troops had taken the pre-war State Capital. The Capital, as the former home of Marius of Phoenix, was heavily defended by Legion troops, including a unit of elite Praetorians even after Marius has retreated to Two Sun. The building was finally cleared as NCR infantry entered from holes in blown in the walls by tank guns and handheld rocket launchers, and clearing it room to room. One unit which distinguished themselves in the fighting in the State Capital are were tribal volunteers from Zion, led by Joshua Graham, who carried a flamethrower known as the "Burned Man's Revenge". On November the 7th, after heavy aerial and artillery bombardment which destroyed several already ruined structures in the downtown area, which was directly hit by the nuclear attack in 2077, NCR and Allied forces pushed into the are known as "the Ruins". This area played host to more heavy fighting, in which collapsed structures and piles of rubble made vehicle maneuvers all but impossible, and providing numerous ambush points for Legion troops, leading to heavy close quarters fighting even more intense than the capital area. The fighting in "The Ruins" lasted from November 7th, until November 11th, when NCR forces took the ruins of the Phoenix International Airport. At the same time as their comrades fought their way through ruins, other NCR units cleared the southern part of Scottsdale, while smaller forces launched a flanking attack to the east, cutting off Highway 87 on Novemeber 8th. The capture of the final route out of the city, however, came too late to prevent Marius' escape to Phoenix. On November 12th, after an artillery barrage and air strikes softened up Legion positions, NCR armor and Brotherhood of Steel Power armor units advanced into Tempe, continuing to face heavy Legion resistance. At 1400 hours on November the 12th, NCR Rangers and Brotherhood Power Armor troopers, supported by fire from NCR tanks, secured the summit of Tempe Butte, more commonly known as "A" Mountain, after the massive letter "A" placed on the side of the mountain by Arizona State University before the war. By the end of November 12th, the remains of Arizona State University were in NCR and Allied hands. On November 13th, NCR forces pushed to the Tempe Police Station. By November 14th, NCR tanks assaulted Legion positions on the elevated remains of the Price Freeway. By the evening of the 14th, the Legion had retreated from the freeway. While some pockets of resistance remained in Tempe and downtown Phoenix until the 17th of November, by this point, the Legion had been pushed into the suburbs of Mesa, Chandler, and Apache Junction, Surrounded on the north by General Lee Oliver's northern assault and General Ignacio Ramirez's attack from the south. Battle of Mesa From Novemeber 15th onward, the remaining Legion forces in Pheonix were boxed in the eastern suburbs of Mesa, with NCR forces under Lee Oliver advancing from the north and Ignacio Ramirez's forces from the south. Those who attempted to retreat along Highway 87 or Interstate 10 were met by NCR roadblocks and small, fast-moving attack forces consisting of armed trucks and M51 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. On November 15th, NCR and Brotherhood Air Forces assaulted Legion strong point in the city of Mesa along Dobson Road and a stretch of Canal to the North of Mesa. Early on November 16th, NCR and allied forces launched a two-pronged attack consisting of most of the northern force and some elements of the southern force which saw combat in the city center, with some one force attack from the west, from Tempe, and another flanking from the north, across open desert before attacking Legion defense along the canal and Red Mountain Freeway. The western force advanced slowly through the dense urban terrain, continuing to face heavy resistance. The Northern assault saw some early successes, taking the airfield of Falcon Field, but their advance was slowed as they faced heavier resistance. After two days of heavy fighting in northern Mesa, on November 17th NCR forces from the south launched another flank attack similar to the one that had taken the Legion by surprise and allowed them to capture the state capital. Legion force attempted to counter this by placing their forces in a defensive "ring" in Mesa to defend against a possible flank attack, however, they were by this point suffering heavily from attrition, and the more imminent threat of the northern and western attack meant that they had about 60% of their troops holding the northern and western boundary of the line, with only about 40% holding the south. For this reason, NCR armored forces were able to punch through the southern line of defense and make deep advances into the Suburbs of Mesa and Gilbert. While the advance was slowed by the urban terrain, which limited the mobility of armored vehicles, the remaining Legion forces could not defend against both attacks at once. Much as they had in the first southern flank attack, as the Legion attempted to respond to the southern flank, it left the northern end of their defense vulnerable. By the end of the day on November 17th, NCR and allied forces had divided the Legion forces into multiple pockets of resistance. By the end of November 18th, the two main pockets of resistance had surrendered. Smaller pockets of Legion resistance remained until November 22nd, when Phoenix was declared clear. Aftermath In the aftermath of the fighting, Phoenix had suffered the heavy damage in the battle. The exact number of civilian casualties remains unknown, but estimates range from 150 to over 1000. While the enslaved population viewed the NCR as liberators, some of the ordinary civilians, who lived under the control of the Legion, but were not enslaved, serving as traders or farmers, resented the NCR for destroying many of their homes and disrupting the order, however brutal it was, that the Legion had instilled. In many case, entire populated areas of Phoenix were destroyed, and many settlements relocated to new areas that saw minimal fighting and were not heavily damaged. While NCR aid programs would reduce the resentment among the civilian population, there would still be those who saw the NCR as having done more harm than good. The surrounding of Pheonix would be inducted into the NCR as a state in 2285. Like with his past victories in the offensive, and in the case of Ramirez, in the recently-concluded war with the Brotherhood, both General Lee Oliver and Ignacio Ramirez would be widely lauded by politicians. Many soldiers of the NCR, however, believe that Oliver's earlier victories were the result of the sudden influx of heavy weapons made available after the signing of the Treaty of Lost Hills and the end of the war with the Brotherhood of Steel, as well as more capable staff officers such as Colonel James Hsu and Chief Ranger Hanlon, rather than any talent of Oliver's part. It was the opinion of many solders that Ramirez's flank attack across the "no-mans land" of desert southwest of Phoenix and into the southern flanks of the Legion forces while the Legion were distracted by the northern assault that ultimately broke the back of the Legion. Category:Battles Category:Events